Dwight Howard out Friday with shoulder injury

Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard has aggravated the shoulder injury that had limited his minutes in recent weeks and will not play in Friday night's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the ESPN LA reported Friday afternoon.

Howard initially injured his shoulder just after the start of the new year against the Los Angeles Clippers, suffering a torn labrum when going up for a rebound with Clippers forward Caron Butler. Since then the injury has flared up at various points, keeping Howard out of games and preventing him from finishing games he plays in.

The most recent aggravation of the injury came in Wednesday's loss to the Phoenix Suns. Howard left the game in the third quarter and did not return.